The 3-2 victory over Thailand in the final helped the Vietnamese men's volleyball team win a SEA V.Cup stage for the first time. Besides the championship, Ngoc Thuan was honored as the best Main attacker and the best player of the tournament, while Duy Tuyen received the title of best Middle blocker.
However, the award ceremony closed with a detail that caused much controversy. The title of Best setter belonged to Boonyarid of Thailand, while Dinh Van Duy - who made a great contribution to the championship of the Vietnamese team - was not named.
According to professional statistics in leg 2 of SEA V.Cup 2026, Van Duy made a total of 319 passes, including 86 one-touch passes to help teammates attack when the opponent only had time to form a maximum of one block (running set). This is an index reflecting the ability to coordinate the ball quickly, creating conditions for the attack to finish before the opponent organizes a complete block.
In this statistic, Van Duy ranked first in the tournament with 86 situations, far ahead of Alfin Daniel of Indonesia (58 running sets), Channaro of Cambodia (57 running sets) and Boonyarid of Thailand (51 running sets).
In addition, the Vietnamese team's setter also had 229 passes to put teammates face-to-face from two blocks or more and only made 4 mistakes in the whole tournament.
Not only shown through numbers, Van Duy is also an important link in the Vietnamese team's playing style. The ability to distribute balls flexibly helps Ngoc Thuan, Duy Tuyen, Van Tien or The Khai all have many scoring opportunities.
In the semi-finals against Indonesia and the final against Thailand, the Vietnamese team often deployed fast attacks in the middle of the net and on both wings thanks to the coordination ability of the setter born in 1998.
Boonyarid being awarded the title of Best Setter while only ranked fourth in passing index makes many fans question the judging criteria of the organizers.
On volleyball forums, the majority of spectators expressed regret for Dinh Van Duy, and at the same time gave many compliments to the impressive performance of the Vietnamese team's setter.
However, the final result did not change the memorable milestone of Vietnamese men's volleyball, with the first championship in a SEA V.Cup stage and three individual awards for Ngoc Thuan and Duy Tuyen.
After the final match, even Dinh Van Duy cried when hugging coach Federico Rampazzo after the historic achievement of his team.
